SL Certification Project

Introduction

In Second Life, education exists already in the form of many SL Schools. But certification does not yet exist in the form of SL Certifiers. The goal of the SL Certification Project is to create these certifiers.

SL Certification is a task-based approach to identifying those who have attained a given level of proficiency in world in a given knowledge and skills area. To become a SL Certification project participant, contact Orange Planer (Leader) or Glenn Linden (Linden Lab Sponsor).

Action Plan

Test

Phase One - Develop Skills Lists

SLCERT team uses VOLUNTEER MODERATORS to maintain:

A single SCHOOLS LIST on the PUBLIC WIKI with links to their information locations showing what they teach

Multiple SKILLS LISTS on the PUBLIC WIKI of what people need to know how to do in multiple categories of SL skills

The VOLUNTEER MODERATORS keep the lists current

The SCHOOLS continue to:

Teach their classes

Remain responsible for their own existing certification programs for now

RESIDENTS have a choice of where to go to learn the skills

EVERYONE has the benefit of a shared set of SKILLS LISTS for reference:

Individuals have:

A checklist for managing their own skills education program

Schools have:

The opportunity to be known for the classes they already make available

The opportunity to offer new classes not yet available

Solution Providers have:

A checklist for managing their employee skills education programs or checking skills levels of their contractors

Second Quarter 2009 Goals

Identify 3rd Party testing companies to be used for certification process

Overarching Goal

SL Certification is a Resident-Managed Project with Linden Lab Sponsorship and Support.

The purpose of the SL Certification Project is to allow individuals to have their Second-Life skills recognized as meeting a set criteria, at various levels of "Basic", "Intermediate," and "Advanced"

A list of certified people will then be maintained and made available to those requesting a service.

To assist residents in achieving these levels, schools will educate those interested. They will create learning content based on the certification criteria.

Once the process is complete, a list of certified individuals will then be made publically available.

Immediate Goal

Develop certification criteria for modeling and scripting

We are looking for members of the Developer, Instructor, and Volunteer communities to work with Lindens in creating the skills list and certification tasks for those skills in Modeling and in Scripting.

Description

Linden Lab is supporting the development of certification for the use of key Second Life tools. We’ll begin with in-world building tools and LSL. We believe this will benefit Residents, Developers, and anyone who wishes to use Second Life by clearly identifying both key skills and the holders of those skills. This will also enable the creation of training to build the skills required for certification.
It is Linden Lab's intent to work with an external certification provider to offer certification testing and maintain a list of those Residents who have been certified.

Certification Mailing List

SL Certification Group

SL Certification Devs - request membership from Glenn Linden or Orange Planer in world. Membership is open to anyone who requests it. Meetings are announced here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the value of Certification?

The primary value of certification is to those hiring people to create content for them in SL. Certification is one indication that someone has at least a minimum set of skills. Certification is only one of many ways to demonstrate competency. Certification also clarifies skills and helps instructors develop instruction.

Certification also provides a set of skills against which anyone in Second Life, whether they build for fun or for hire, can measure their accomplishments.

By more clearly defining skills related to Second Life tools, certification may improve the quality of construction in Second Life, and may encourage a broader range of instruction about the Second Life tools.

Portfolios already show if someone is competent; why do we need certification?

Portfolios have a valuable role in demonstrating accomplishment, both in RL and SL. In Second Life, many projects are done collaboratively. Builds can incorporate content that is bought and created, and many people can be involved. It can be hard to look at a project and understand what a particular person has contributed. Certification provides one method of demonstrating your own skill set. It should be only one of many potential ways to evaluate a candidate.

Is Linden Lab mandating certification?

You can chose to be certified if you want, or not. Linden Lab has no intent to monitor or mandate that Second Life content be created only by Residents with certification, or to mandate certification in any way. Nor will Certification (or non-certification) be tied by Linden Lab in any way to land ownership, group membership, membership level, or any other attribute of a Second Life account. While Linden Lab may provide a way for those listed in the Developer Directory to identify certification, it will not require it for the Developer Directory, Classifieds, Events, or any other Linden Lab-operated listing service.

Is Linden Lab mandating content of certification?

Linden Lab has engaged the Residents in defining the skills involved in competency, and in developing the appropriate demonstration of those skills. Linden Lab is not defining the skills nor the demonstration of them, it is simply supporting the process.

Will it cost money? Does Linden Lab intend to profit by Certification?

Linden Lab was looking to have a third party organization manage certification; we don't want the administrative hassle of doing it, nor the potential for anyone to claim that we would have influence on who gets certified. We intend to make certification as widely available as possible. We will work with Residents, Instructors and Developers to find the best way to enable certification.

Who will be providing the Certification service?

At this time, the only answer we can give is "Not Linden Lab." We will work with the Residents who participate in developing certification to find the best provider - whether a Resident, an external third party, or some other provider. Ironically, our original reason for only considering an external provider was to prevent any concern that one group of Residents might use Certification against other Residents. Linden Lab has no intent of operating the Certification service - we don't have the expertise or resources, nor do we want the inevitable accusations of bias.

Will certification make it harder to become competent in using Second Life tools?

Certification is a way to more clearly communicate skills. Without certification, everyone has their own idea of what competency is. Some classes will teach one set of skills, others another, and outcomes aren't comparable. That's why we're involving SL instructors in this project.
Learning to use SL Tools will still take the same amount of effort. Certification will help guide builders and scripters in what they ought to learn in order to achieve particular measurable standards.

How will information on who is certified by made available?

The Residents involved in developing certification will help us determine the most effective way to list who is certified.

Can we do certification in Second Life?

At least one Resident has started building a set of in-world tasks that could become part of a certification system. This seems preferable to having external tests/tasks.

Certification Categories

Categories for certification will be varied, and will grow over time.
The basic principal behind the certification process is to provide as wide an array of subjects as possible, and involve residents with skills in these areas.

Currently the following categories are being developed:

Graphic Design

Machinima

Client Interaction

Building

Land Management

Terraforming

Event Hosting

Scripting

Mentoring

By the end of February 09 we hope to have a framework of skill-sets which will then form the basis to develop learning materials.

Previous Attempt at Categorization

An initial attempt at the SL Certification project began in the second quarter of 2007. Included below is an initial attempt at categorizing Modelling and Scripting skills (further works and discussion can be seen on the List of Modeling Skills and Scripting pages). The current work on skill categorization can be found in Skills Lists above.